Spring 2009 CSA
Newsletter May 1, 2009
This Past Week
The farm received about 4 ½ ” of rain Monday afternoon in about two hours. This was way too much, in such a short amount of time, for our drainage ditches to provide adequate relief. Consequently, our primary lettuce house ended up having a temporary “river” running through the lower one half of it. While not all was lost, it sure made a big mess. (I guess the good news is that we cut the salad mix Monday a.m. before the rains came.) Tuesday morning was interesting as well as we were sloshing around in rubber boots trying to harvest broccoli, cauliflower, radishes and green onions. If you have ever worked in foot deep mud you can probably relate to the task of trying to keep your feet from slipping out of your rubber boots as your boots get stuck. More than once I found myself having to do a balancing act as one of my feet would slip out of its respective boot. No planting this week, as the fields were way too wet.
Field Update
The zucchini and squash at the farm lease appear to have survived the rains just fine. As mentioned last week, the yellow “crooked neck” squash has grown nicely. While the zucchini is developing blooms, it is slower maturing which may hopefully work out just fine. Not sure how much, but with any luck we will begin picking squash before the next rain is forecast for this Sunday night. The cucumbers and cantaloupe still seem to be lagging, but they should start to accelerate now that the daytime temps are almost 90F. I noticed on Thursday that some of the “Early Girl” tomatoes were beginning to exhibit some color. Hopefully the weatherman will get Monday’s soggy forecast wrong, as everything needs a break from the rain. We have one or maybe two weeks of broccoli and cauliflower left. We are already beginning to see some of the broccoli “bolt” as we described last week. Some of the potatoes are really hurting from the soggy ground. Our farm soil ( a loam) is really heavy and holds moisture for a long time, sometimes too long. All of the moisture in the air is still hurting our strawberries. For every good berry, we throw away about twenty bad ones. Almost all of the mature arugula has gone bad. The other greens such as tatsoi and mizuna are holding their own, but some beds are questionable. If there is a silver lining to all this moisture, the beets and carrots, and their accompanying weeds, seem to be doing great.
Pick Ups Every Wednesday?
Our goal is work on schedule and have your shares delivered every Wednesday to their respective pick locations. So unless you get an email or phone call saying otherwise, please count on Wednesday being “pick up day” unless you have made special arrangements. We will continue to send out an email on Tuesday evenings reminding you of such. Some of you have forgotten to “check off or initial” the spreadsheet at your pickup locations. Some of the locations are businesses, i.e. Hill Design @Upper Kirby and Moveable Feast, and do not have an active presiding host. Forgetting to check off your pickup makes it difficult for us too know who has not picked up. This is good info as this allows us to try and contact those “missing persons” on a timely basis. Having had a little experience now, please try to pick up your shares within the allotted time if possible. We are indebted to our pickup hosts and do not wish to have them be inconvenienced.
Coming Next?
This week coming up we anticipate your shares to include some carrots and beets as well as more broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, green onions, salad mix and possibly some apple mint and/or cilantro. Depending on the weather, we may have some squash as well. Tomatoes are probably still a ways off.
Open House at Wood Duck Farm?
Assuming the world is not under quarantine, we are still planning our open house here at Wood Duck Farm on Saturday May 16th between 10:30- 3:00 p.m.. The format will be a “potluck” lunch with a farm tour and kid activities. Bring your lawn chairs. Food for thought: this is a working farm and we have farm implements, briars and barbed wire as such that may be sharp to the bare foot. We also have creatures that live in the adjacent woods; ponds and fields that you probably don’t wish your toes to touch; so we recommend you wear snickers or boots. With all the recent rain, the mosquitoes are fairly active as well so bring insect repellant. We have plenty of shade, but sunscreen and a hat may be a good idea as well. Rebecca Schner, our Woodlands host, put together an official invite that we will try to get emailed in the next day or so. We could use a few volunteers to help with setting up some tables etc so please let us know if you are available.
A Few Thoughts.
Our “maiden voyage” two weeks ago included some organizational “hick-ups” such as being late and some share holders not knowing what day and time to pick up etc. While these “hick-ups impacted less than 15% of our shareholders, they did adversely impact some schedules. I apologize for any oversights that may have occurred and take full responsibility for any inconvenience. Hopefully many of you found that week # two, this past Wednesday, was a little easier and also punctual for the most part. In fact, except for being 20 mins. late at the Upper Kirby location, I think all of the other shares arrived early. With respect to your share sizes, while the volume is less than we all had hoped for, I remain optimistic that the weather will improve and our crops will grow better. Hopefully better growing conditions will result in larger share sizes. Please remember that three weeks ago we had a freeze, followed by about 9+” of rain in 21 days. Given this being Texas, farmers over the past few centuries have learned to expect droughts, followed by prolonged floods, and then more droughts.
I’ll be at the Bayou City Farmers Market tomorrow, Saturday May 2nd. I should have my normal coolers full of greens and prepared food items. I’ll have some extra broccoli as well.
Until next time,
VanCell 713 876 8645
csa@woodduckfarm.com